1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an airbag apparatus provided with a bag-shaped airbag which is folded and housed and is inflatable with inflation gas.
2. Description of Related Art
An airbag apparatus is known from JP 6-286543: the apparatus has an airbag, and the bag is provided with an occupant-side tether belt joined to a panel facing an occupant, and a vehicle body side tether belt joined to the side of a housing. Both of the tether belts are arranged in a circle inside the airbag and linked together at a point of the circular contours.
The occupant-side tether belt is provided with a breakable portion that is broken during airbag inflation to disconnect the linkage of the tether belts. More specifically, at an initial stage of airbag inflation, the occupant-side panel of the airbag is developed wide with the tether belts linked together. Thereafter, the occupant-side tether belt is broken to disconnect the linkage with the vehicle body side tether belt. Then the occupant-side panel developed wide is shifted toward the occupant with no change in its orientation, and thus the airbag inflation is completed. In this airbag apparatus, however, because of the breakage of the occupant-side tether belt, a clearance between the occupant-side panel and the side of the housing is no longer regulated. Accordingly, it is hard to regulate the contour of the fully inflated airbag depending upon where the occupant is seated.